PORT Adelaide has taken 26 players to China for Saturday's clash with Gold Coast as it aims to replicate its successful historic Shanghai trip from a year ago.
In the only change, former Sun Trent McKenzie has replaced defender Jasper Pittard, who was an emergency for last Saturday night's Showdown win against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
The other three emergencies – Karl Amon, Dom Barry and Jack Trengove – have all travelled.
The Power flew out of Adelaide on Monday night, stopping in Melbourne and Hong Kong before touching down in Shanghai at lunchtime on Tuesday.
They will hold their main training session on Wednesday followed by a light run on Friday ahead of the game with the Suns, keeping the same formula that helped them claim a runaway 72-point victory in last year's fixture.
BIG THREE FIRE UP: Nine things we learned from round eight
"We did a pretty good job last year in terms of the preparation for it," Port's general manager of football Chris Davies said on Monday.
"We leave later on today and the guys are aware of what their training schedule will be, so we're pretty keen to get over there and follow the method we went through last year.
"We've got a number of different appearances that we've got to do over there, so we want to take enough people so we've got players on the ground that can service the events we need to do, and our (Power supporters) who are travelling a fair distance, we want to make sure they get a good amount of access to our players as well."
The Power players will travel in business class and premium economy.
Bigger players – like ruckman Paddy Ryder – will get preference for business class, while the high-performance staff will decide on others such as forward Chad Wingard, who has recently returned from a soft tissue injury.
The game will be held at Adelaide Arena at Jiangwan Stadium, which has underwent some modifications.
"The change rooms, as I understand it, have been built out, so we'll have new change rooms on the other side of the ground," Davies said.
"The reality is the facilities were really good inside the stadium from an actual football perspective, so we're looking forward to getting over there."
After the game, the Power players will have four days off as required by the AFL Players' Association for teams leading into a bye week.
Some players will spend time sightseeing in Hong Kong or other parts of Asia, while others will return to Australia straight away.
The Power are coming off a stunning five-point win over cross-town rivals Adelaide in Saturday's Showdown – snapping a five-game losing streak stretching over three years to the Crows.
Davies said preventing a Showdown hangover was one of the key messages as the Power (5-3) aim to build momentum ahead of the bye.
"That's the challenge for the coaches this week, and the players alike, to make sure they approach the game in a manner that befits what we want to do this season," he said.
"The second half on the weekend for us was a pretty significant change to some of the performances that we've put out.
"If we want to continue to be good for the remainder of this year, we need to make that the benchmark rather than the one-off situation."
